Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: Season 7, Episode 9

Rockabye

After sixteen-year-old Lauren Westley (Keri Lynn Pratt) loses her unborn child due to a severe abdominal beating, her father's insistence that Lauren was raped leads detectives to the baby's father (John Patrick Amedori), but it isn't long before the detectives realize that Lauren was an active party in her own beating, and the two teens had found it necessary to take the steps they did because the abortion clinic kept putting off Lauren's request for an appointment. Novak faces a tough opponent in her own office when she and Branch disagree over the appropriate action to be taken against Wayne Mortens, the young girl's boyfriend. Ultimately, as she can't get a plea bargain thanks to Branch (Fred Dalton Thompson)'s orders, Novak calls up a witness that upon cross-examination makes the defense's case and Wayne only gets found guilty of the misdemeanor Novak wanted to plea him out to. Branch, while not happy, doesn't go after Novak for it and instead sends the cops after the abortion clinic as their actions forced the desperate teens' actions. This episode is a 'ripped from the headlines' episode; the original case occurred in Michigan, but since there was no statute that specifically covered this incident, the teens were convicted on lesser charges.